Reading updates over at Plurk, specifically, this, this, and this post from user TheBitchGoddess reminds me just how near and how real the conflict in Mindanao is to all of us.

It’s an issue for me, because on Friday my wife and I will be flying to Cagayan de Oro City for the long weekend. While CDO is more than 10 hours away from General Santos City (where the fighting has apparently descended to) but a few hours nearer to Lanao Del Norte, where several towns have been attacked by the MILF.

We’re supposed to spend our first day there (the rest of the long weekend, we will be at Camiguin) but I’ve voiced my concern that if things go south at CDO (pun unintended), we should be ready to ferry to Tagbilaran from Camiguin.

I have often wondered how foreign tourists feel when flying to Manila right after terror attacks and security advisories are issued by their countries. The feeling of fear (what if the MILF gets to where we are?) and frustration (how dare the MILF ruin a vacation that took months to arrange!) may be argued as unfounded (should I be happy that the 43rd Infantry Battalion will be in CDO?) but it is both unsettling and unnerving just thinking of the possibilities.

Moreover, I feel worried about friends, both online and real-life, who are in the cities of General Santos and Davao. If we tourists have any right to be worried, what more for people who actually live and work in those areas affected by the fighting?

It is frustrating that the government has ever considered negotiating with these terrorists, who have brought nothing but death, havoc and grief to the life of innocent civilians, whether Christians or Muslims, the latter who they are supposed to represent. And it frustrates me further that a region so full of potential as a major travel destination should be deprived of opportunities to develop and promote tourism in these areas.

We will still push through with the trip barring major circumstances, but I would be unable to remove from my mind the thought of just how real and relevant to a relatively sheltered Manileño like me this war really is.

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